YU TANG

Category: term 3

Categories
term 3

3D animation

Week 1 — Cinematography / Camera Language

Key Points

Camera placement / Focus / Focal length / Geometry in frame / Camera movement / 5 + 5 storyboard challenge

What I Learned

This week, I learned that cinematography is not only about making a shot look beautiful. The camera should always support the meaning of the scene. Before placing the camera, I need to ask: What is this scene about? What do I want to say?

Focus was an important part of this lesson. Deep focus allows the audience to explore the whole frame, while shallow focus directs attention to one subject. Rack focus is also useful because it shifts the viewer’s attention inside the same shot, almost like a cut without actually cutting.

I also learned that focal length changes how the space feels. A wide lens can make the space feel larger or more dramatic, while a long lens can compress the image. Geometry in frame is also important because lines, circles, symmetry and shapes can create visual order and guide the viewer’s eye.

Camera movement can create different emotions. Handheld movement can feel nervous or realistic, dolly zoom can create psychological tension, and arc shots can make a subject feel important or isolated.

Class Task

For the 5 + 5 challenge, we created a storyboard with five shots, each lasting five seconds. The challenge was to communicate a clear story or emotion without dialogue, only using camera language

The translation has been blurred because it was not published.

In this exercise, I used the content from Week 1 to rethink a five-second advertisement line that originally had no camera movement. Instead of keeping it as a flat and static shot, I tried to turn it into a more comedic and energetic sequence. I used camera language such as whip pans, fast push-ins, quick zooms, rapid panning and quick cuts to make the advertising message feel more playful and exaggerated.

I also researched Stephen Chow’s comedy style and the Chinese sitcom iPartment, which gave me ideas about rhythm, timing and visual exaggeration. Through this process, I realised that camera movement is not only a technical choice. It can completely change the tone of a scene. For an advertisement, this kind of fast and humorous camera language makes the content more entertaining and more suitable for selling the idea to the audience.

Week 2 — Story Basic

Key Points

Narrative, not chronicle / Therefore and But / Character motivation / Conflict / SWBST structure / Storyboard practice

What I Learned

This week, I learned that a story is not just a list of events. A story needs structure, meaning and cause and effect. If the story only works as “and then, and then”, it can feel random. A stronger story should connect events through “therefore” or “but”.

I also learned that the character should lead the story. The story should come from what the character wants, what stops them, and what choice they make. This makes the story feel more active and believable.

Conflict is the core of story. A story begins when desire meets obstacle. The obstacle can be external, such as another person or situation, or internal, such as fear, doubt or obsession.

The SWBST structure helped me organise story ideas clearly: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then. It is a simple structure, but it makes the story more logical and easier to explain.

Week 3 — Story Structure

This week, I learned different ways to structure a story. Before this class, I often thought of story as a sequence of interesting events. However, this week helped me understand that a strong story needs structure, change and emotional progression.

Key Points

Three-act structure
This structure gives the story a clear beginning, middle and end: setup, confrontation and resolution.

Hero’s Journey
The Hero’s Journey focuses on transformation. A character leaves their ordinary world, faces challenges, and returns changed.

Five-act structure
This structure creates a stronger dramatic rise and fall. It is useful for stories with tension, crisis and emotional release.

Dan Harmon’s Story Circle
I found this structure very clear because it breaks the journey into simple stages: comfort, need, unfamiliar situation, adaptation, reward, price, return and change.

This week, based on my tutor’s feedback, I revised my heavy object animation. The original planning was not clear enough, and the sequence felt slightly too long, so I adjusted the structure to make the action more readable and focused.

Week 4 — Facial Animation: Facial Pose

This week, I learned how to make facial poses feel more organic and appealing. The most useful idea for me was that a good facial expression should not look too symmetrical or mechanical. Perfect symmetry can make a character feel stiff or uncanny, so small asymmetry can make the face feel more natural and alive.

Key Points

Asymmetry
I learned that one side of the face can be stronger than the other. This helps the expression feel less robotic and more believable.

Connectivity
The face should move as one connected unit. When the mouth changes, the cheeks, eyes, eyebrows and eyelids should also react.

Shape
Facial poses should be designed graphically. Instead of making the eyes or mouth into simple “football shapes”, I need to think about clear, readable and appealing shapes.

Volume
I also learned that the face should keep its volume. If one area compresses, another area should bulge or shift, otherwise the face can look like it is collapsing.

Lids and energy
The relationship between the eyelids and pupils can show the energy level of the character. Small changes in the eyelids can make the same face feel tired, surprised, suspicious or relaxed.

Week 5 — Project 1 Formative Brief

This week, we learned about Project 1, which is a formative assignment connected to our Final Major Project. The main idea is not to finish the whole FMP concept immediately, but to choose one core element that I want to explore further.

For example, this core element could be:

  • a visual aesthetic
  • a character design
  • a narrative idea
  • a technical workflow
  • a portfolio direction

What I found useful is that Project 1 is more like a test run for the FMP. It allows me to test one part of my idea first, instead of trying to solve the whole project at once.

What I Learned

The examples in class helped me understand different ways to approach this project.

One example focused on visual style research. The student did not have a full story yet, but they found an art style they liked and tested how to recreate it in 3D. This showed me that visual research can become a strong starting point for an FMP.

Another example focused on character design and rigging. The student wanted to create an animation-ready 3D character, but later realised that modelling and rigging from scratch took too much time. This helped me understand the importance of testing whether an idea is realistic and achievable.

The third example focused on building a 3D animator portfolio. The student researched other animators’ showreels, planned different types of animation shots, and created a clear schedule and benchmark. This showed me that Project 1 can also be used to test a professional direction, not only a story or visual style.

My blocking also needs more development: the spacing between key poses is too wide, and there are not enough breakdowns or in-between poses, so the movement is not refined enough yet.

Week 6 — Facial Animation II: Eyes Animation

This week, I learned more about how to create natural facial animation through the eyes. The class focused on three important areas: blinking, eye darts and eyebrow movement. I realised that the eyes are not just small details on the face; they can show the character’s thinking process, attitude change and emotional state.

Key Points

Blink
I learned that a blink should not happen randomly. It can be used when the character changes attitude, changes eye direction, has a new thought, moves their head, or holds a stare. This helped me understand that blinking should support the character’s thought process, not just be added to make the animation look “alive”.

Eye Dart
Eye darts show that the character is thinking or gathering information. The eyes should lock onto specific points instead of moving vaguely. I also learned that eye darts usually move in straight lines and can create a triangle-like pattern.

Eyebrows
Eyebrows are connected to intention and emotion. For example, an intentional blink can include eyebrow movement, while a natural blink may not need it. The eyebrow movement also affects the upper eyelid shape, so they should not be animated separately.


There were many mistakes in the poses, and I did not consider how different parts of the body should work together. As a result, the animation looked very stiff.

Week 7 —

Categories
Class term 3

Expanded Animation

Week 1 — Initial Observation: Information Sedation

In the first week, I started by reflecting on my own everyday experience of digital media. I noticed that my relationship with screens is not simply about searching for information or entertainment. Most of the time, I am not actively looking for something specific. Instead, I am being continuously fed by short videos, social media posts, advertisements, recommended images and algorithmic content. This made me think about the word “feed” not only as a technical term used by platforms, but also as a metaphor for a psychological condition. The screen constantly feeds me images, emotions, humour, news, anxiety, beauty, noise and desire.

At this early stage, I was interested in the idea of information sedation. I began to think about how entertainment can work like a kind of psychological narcotic. When people feel bored, empty, tired or anxious, they often turn to visual stimulation. Short videos, scrolling interfaces and algorithmic recommendations provide instant distraction. They do not necessarily solve the feeling of emptiness, but they cover it temporarily. This made me question whether digital entertainment has become a form of spiritual sedation in contemporary life.

At this early stage, I was interested in the idea of information sedation. I began to think about how entertainment can work like a kind of psychological narcotic. When people feel bored, empty, tired or anxious, they often turn to visual stimulation. Short videos, scrolling interfaces and algorithmic recommendations provide instant distraction. They do not necessarily solve the feeling of emptiness, but they cover it temporarily. This made me question whether digital entertainment has become a form of spiritual sedation in contemporary life.

Week 2 — Developing the Concept: From Pleasure to Overload

In the second week, I began to develop the project into a clearer concept. I realised that I did not want to simply say “social media is bad”. Instead, I wanted to explore why digital content is so attractive at first, and how this pleasure can slowly become exhausting.

This led me to the idea of total visual overload. I imagined the screen as a space where images never stop multiplying: short videos, advertisements, memes, AI images, beauty filters and social media fragments all appear together. They are colourful and exciting, but also repetitive and overwhelming.

During this week, the title FEED became important. It refers to the digital feed on social media, but also suggests the act of being fed. The viewer is not fully in control. They are continuously supplied with visual content by a system.

I started to think about the emotional journey of the audience. The work should begin with visual pleasure: psychedelic colours, rich textures, fast rhythm and AI-generated imagery. Then the same visual language should gradually become excessive. Images repeat, overlap and multiply until pleasure turns into fatigue.

This helped me understand the project as a transformation from seduction to overstimulation. The work should not only talk about information overload, but allow the audience to experience it.

Week 3 — Structuring the Experience

In the third week, I focused on the structure of the project. I decided to organise FEED into three stages: Seduction, Overstimulation, and Emptiness & Self-Awareness.

  • STAGE 1

The first stage, Seduction, represents the pleasure of the digital feed. I want this part to feel colourful, immersive and attractive. The visuals may include psychedelic colours, AI textures, glowing symbols and fast movement. This stage should make the audience understand why digital stimulation is enjoyable.

  • STAGE 2

The second stage, Overstimulation, is where the same visual pleasure becomes too much. Images begin to repeat, overlap and multiply. Colours become stronger, rhythm becomes faster, and the screen becomes more crowded. The audience may feel tired, anxious or numb, but still continue watching. This reflects the experience of infinite scrolling.

STAGE 3

The final stage, Emptiness & Self-Awareness, happens after the overload. All visual stimulation suddenly disappears, leaving only a figure in a pure white space. Then the text “Are you still watching?” appears, followed by a black screen. This ending is designed as a moment of interruption, allowing the audience to become aware of their own act of watching.

By the end of this week, my research question became clearer: How can AI-generated moving images simulate visual overload and lead the audience from pleasure and immersion to fatigue, emptiness and self-awareness?

I also decided that AI should not only be a production tool. Its ability to generate endless images, textures and variations directly connects to the concept of infinite digital stimulation.

Week 4 — Theoretical basis

Herbert A. Simon — The Origin of Attention Scarcity

The theoretical foundation for understanding the attention economy was laid by Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon in 1971, in a paper that predated the internet but anticipated its consequences with remarkable precision. Simon argued that as information becomes abundant, something else becomes scarce: human attention. His formulation remains one of the most cited observations in media theory:

“In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”

Simon, H. A. (1971). ‘Designing organizations for an information-rich world.’ In M. Greenberger (ed.), Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, pp. 40–41.

Overstimulation and the Numbing of the Self

The transition from FEED’s first stage (Seduction) to its second stage (Overstimulation) is not simply a shift in visual intensity. It represents a psychological process — one in which pleasure gradually transforms into exhaustion, and engagement gives way to numbness. Two theorists, writing more than a century apart, describe this process with unusual clarity.

Georg Simmel — The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903)

Writing about the psychological impact of modern city life, Simmel identified a mechanism of sensory adaptation that translates directly to the experience of the digital feed. He observed that prolonged exposure to an overwhelming volume of stimuli does not produce heightened sensitivity — it produces the opposite: a protective numbness he called the blasé attitude.

Simmel, G. (1903/1971). ‘The Metropolis and Mental Life.’ In D. N. Levine (ed.), Georg Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 324–339.

The result is the blasé attitude, characterised by a specific kind of perceptual collapse:

“The essence of the blasé attitude is an indifference toward the distinctions between things… They appemogeneous, flat and grey color with no one of them worthy of being preferred to another.”

Ibid. Simmel wrote these words about Berlin in 1903, but they describe the experience of infinite scrolling with near-perfect accuracy. In FEED, the second stage — Overstimulation — is designed to reproduce this exact perceptual collapse. Images repeat, overlap and multiply. The viewer continues to watch not because the content is engaging, but because the capacity to distinguish between images — to feel the difference between them — has been temporarily suspended. Simmel’s blasé attitude is what FEED is asking the audience to feel, not simply to understand.

Byung-Chul Han — The Burnout Society (2015)

Byung-Chul Han brings Simmel’s analysis into the present and connects it explicitly to the culture of digital media, performance and positivity. Han argues that the distinctive pathology of contemporary life is not produced by negativity, prohibition or external force — it is produced by an excess of positivity: too much stimulation, too much availability, too much choice.

“Neurological illnesses such as depression, ADHD, borderline personality disorder and burnout syndrome mark the landscape of pathology at the beginning of the twenty-first century. They are not infections, but infarctions; they do not follow from the negativity of what is immunologically foreign, but from an excess of positivity.”

Han, B.-C. (2015). The Burnout Society. Trans. E. Butler. Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 1.

Han further identifies what he calls hyperattention: a mode of perception characterised by rapid, fragmented focus, an inability to sustain attention on any single thing, and a growing intolerance for boredom. This is precisely the attentional state produced by the algorithmic feed — and it is what FEED’s visual language of dense, fast, layered imagery is designed to reproduce and make visible.

The transition from FEED’s second stage (Overstimulation) into the third stage (Emptiness) directly reflects Han’s central argument: the excess of positivity does not produce fulfilment — it produces exhaustion, depression, and a profound sense of inner vacancy. The audience is not left empty because the images were meaningless. They are left empty because they were too much.

Week 5 — Visual Research: Information Overload and Digital Feed Aesthetics

In Week 5, I started to develop the visual language of my project around the idea of information explosion. My project explores how the algorithmic feed constantly pushes images, colours, messages and visual fragments towards us. Instead of presenting this topic only through text, I wanted to turn the feeling of digital overload into a visual and spatial experience.

For my style research, I looked at visual overload, colour accumulation, abstract digital imagery and immersive media art. I was interested in images that feel excessive, fast, unstable and difficult to fully read. This became important for my three-stage structure: first attracting the viewer with bright visual stimulation, then overwhelming them through speed and density, and finally creating a more immersive space where the audience can physically feel trapped inside the feed.

Generated image
Generated image

Week 6 — From Flat Image to Moving Experience

At the beginning of the project, I was mainly thinking about making a flat visual outcome. I imagined the work as a screen-based piece, using AI-generated images and animated visuals to represent the chaotic feeling of online information. However, after receiving feedback from my tutor, I started to think beyond a single flat image.

My tutor suggested that the project could become more spatial, possibly similar to a 360-degree video. This feedback helped me realise that the topic itself is not only visual, but also experiential. Information overload is not something we just look at — it surrounds us, follows us and affects our attention. Because of this, I began to think about how to make the audience feel inside the system, rather than simply watching it from outside.

During this stage, I also started using new AI software to generate and test moving images for the project. This allowed me to create more fluid, abstract and fast-changing visuals, which matched the feeling of a constantly updating feed.

flat video test version

Week 7 — Testing 360-Degree Video

In Week 7, I tested the possibility of making the project as a 360-degree video. The reason I wanted to try this format was that it could allow the audience to look around and feel surrounded by the visuals. This seemed suitable for my concept, because I wanted to create a sense of being inside an endless stream of information.

However, after testing the 360-degree format, I found that the image quality was too low for my project. The details became unclear, and the strong colours and textures lost some of their impact. Since my project depends heavily on dense details, high saturation and visual intensity, the loss of clarity became a major problem.

This experiment was still useful, because it helped me understand that immersion does not only come from 360-degree video. It can also be created through space, reflection, scale, sound, movement and the relationship between the viewer and the environment.

Week 8 — Immersive Space and Mirror Wall Research

After the 360-degree test, I shifted my focus from “360 video” to “immersive spatial experience”. I decided to build a virtual installation space where the audience could feel surrounded by information. Instead of making one screen, I wanted the whole environment to become the screen.

I researched immersive installations, especially Yayoi Kusama’s mirror rooms. Her work uses mirrored walls, repetition and light to create the feeling of infinite space. This inspired me to think about reflection as a way to extend the visual information endlessly. I also looked at immersive digital exhibitions such as teamLab, where images do not stay fixed on one surface but flow across walls, floors and rooms.

This research helped me develop one of the main design decisions in my project: making the surrounding walls reflective. By using mirror-like materials, the visuals can repeat and multiply inside the space. This creates a stronger feeling of visual overload, as if the viewer is surrounded by endless copies of the digital feed.

Ima

Week 9 — Building the Space in Blender

In Week 9, I started building the immersive environment in Blender. I created a room-like space and tested different ways to place the moving images around the viewer. The most important design decision was to turn the surrounding walls into mirror surfaces. This allowed the images, colours and light to reflect repeatedly, making the space feel larger, deeper and more overwhelming.

Blender became an important tool because it allowed me to control the camera, lighting, materials and spatial layout. Compared with a flat video, the 3D space gave me more freedom to design how the audience would experience the work. I could decide where the viewer stands, how the visuals surround them, and how reflections create a sense of infinite digital information.

At this stage, I also continued using AI-generated visuals as moving textures. These visuals became the “content” of the feed, while Blender became the structure that holds and amplifies them.

Week 10 — Final Presentation and Audience Feedback

In Week 10, I focused on preparing the final immersive presentation. My aim was to make the audience feel that they were entering a visual system rather than simply watching a video. The space became a metaphor for the algorithmic feed: colourful, attractive, repetitive, overwhelming and difficult to escape.

For the final stage of the project, I plan to invite several people to experience the work and record their reactions. I want to observe whether they feel immersed, overwhelmed, excited, uncomfortable or distracted. Their feedback will help me understand whether the project successfully communicates the emotional and psychological effect of information overload.

This audience testing is important because my project is not only about making a visually strong image. It is about creating an experience. By combining AI-generated visuals, Blender space design, mirror reflections and immersive presentation, I want the project to show how digital information can become an environment that surrounds the body and affects attention.